One Marine's View

We are Marines

I was going to update on the high temps, sand flea bites and tics but below is a much more simpler post. All is good-Semper

 

We are Marines. Many people don’t understand what we do as Marines nor do they really want to know. Many people are just thankful that we are out there. The force between them and evil. They are quick to chastise us or point out the rare occasions when we drift, however, they beg for us to go stand between them and fear.  In the very recent past, we have lost two Marines from our unit, the first of this deployment, many of the last few deployments.  They are warriors, school teachers and sons. They wanted to make a difference and they did. Now that we have grieve and have held a memorial, we put our helmets back on, push outside the wire and continue to keep the wolf at bay.  Why you ask? Because we are Marines.

God Bless them both and their families-Semper Fi

Daddy's Poem

Daddy's Poem

Her hair was up in a pony tail,
her favorite dress tied with a bow.
Today was Daddy's Day at school,
and she couldn't wait to go.
But her mommy tried to tell her,
that she probably should stay home
Why the kids might not understand,
if she went to school alone.
But she was not afraid;
she knew just what to say.
What to tell her classmates
of why he wasn't there today.
But still her mother worried,
for her to face this day alone.
And that was why once again,
she tried to keep her daughter home..

But the little girl went to school
eager to tell them all.
About a dad she never sees
a dad who never calls.
There were daddies along the wall in back, for everyone to meet.
Children squirming impatiently,
anxious in their seats
One by one the teacher called
a student from the class.
To introduce their daddy,
as seconds slowly passed.
At last the teacher called her name,
every child turned to stare.
Each of them was searching,
a man who wasn't there.

'Where's her daddy at?'
She heard a boy call out.
'She probably doesn't have one,'
another student dared to shout.
And from somewhere near the back,
she heard a daddy say,
'Looks like another deadbeat dad,
too busy to waste his day.'

The words did not offend her,
as she smiled up at her Mom.
And looked back at her teacher, who told her to go on.
And with hands behind her back,
slowly she began to speak.
And out from the mouth of a child,
came words incredibly unique.

'My Daddy couldn't be here,
because he lives so far away.
But I know he wishes he could be,
since this is such a special day.
And though you cannot meet him,
I wanted you to know.
All about my daddy,
and how much he loves me so.
He loved to tell me stories
he taught me to ride my bike.
He surprised me with pink roses,
and taught me to fly a kite.
We used to share fudge sundaes,
and ice cream in a cone
And though you cannot see him.
I'm not standing here alone.

'Cause my daddy's always with me,
even though we are apart
I know because he told me,
he'll forever be in my heart'
With that, her little hand reached up,
and lay across her chest.
Feeling her own heartbeat,
beneath her favorite dress.

And from somewhere there in the crowd of dads, her mother stood in
tears.
Proudly watching her daughter,
who was wise beyond her years.
For she stood up for the love
of a man not in her life.
Doing what was best for her,
doing what was right.
And when she dropped her hand back down, staring straight into the
crowd.
She finished with a voice so soft,
but its message clear and loud.

'I love my daddy very much,
he's my shining star.
And if he could, he'd be here,
but heaven's just too far.

You see he is a Marine
and died just this past year
When a roadside bomb hit his convoy
and taught Americans to fear.
But sometimes when I close my eyes,
it's like he never went away.'
And then she closed her eyes,
and saw him there that day.

And to her mother's amazement,
she witnessed with surprise.
A room full of daddies and children,
all starting to close their eyes.

Who knows what they saw before them,
who knows what they felt inside.
Perhaps for merely a second,
they saw him at her side.

'I know you're with me Daddy,'
to the silence she called out.
And what happened next made believers,
of those once filled with doubt.

Not one in that room could explain it,
for each of their eyes had been closed.
But there on the desk beside her,
was a fragrant long-stemmed pink rose.
And a child was blessed, if only for a moment, by the love of her
shining star.
And given the gift of believing,
that heaven is never too far.

They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to
appreciate them, a day to love them, but then an entire life to forget
them.

Take the time...to live and love.

Until eternity.

God bless

There must be many children in the same boat as this little girl.
Thanks to our servicemen and women and their families for the sacrifice they are
making to keep our country Free.

Don't know if you've ever seen this.  A great lesson for all kids.

Back in September of 2005, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren, a
social studies school teacher at Robinson High School in Little Rock ,
did something not to be forgotten.

On the first day of school, with the permission of the school
superintendent, the principal and the building supervisor, she removed
all of the desks out of her classroom.

When the first period kids entered the room they discovered that there
were no desks.

Looking around, confused, they asked,
'Ms. Cothren, where're our desks?'

She replied, 'You can't have a desk until you tell me what you have done
to earn the right to sit at a desk.'

They thought, 'Well, maybe it's our grades.
'No,' she said.

'Maybe it's our behavior.'
She told them, 'No, it's not even your behavior'.

And so, they came and went, the first period, second period, third
period.  Still no desks in the classroom.

By early afternoon television news crews had started gathering in Ms.
Cothren's classroom to report about this crazy teacher who had taken all
the desks out of her room.

The final period of the day came and as the puzzled students found seats
on the floor of the desk less classroom.

Martha Cothren said, 'Throughout the day no one has been able to tell me
just what he/she has done to earn the right to sit at the desks that are
ordinarily found in this classroom. Now I am going to tell you.'

At this point, Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom
and opened it.

Twenty-seven (27) U.S. Veterans, all in uniforms, walked into that
classroom, each one carrying a school desk.

The Vets began placing the school desks in rows, and then they would walk over and stand alongside the wall.

By the time the last soldier had set the final desk in place those kids
started to understand, perhaps for the first time in their lives, just
how the right to sit at those desks had been earned.

Martha said, 'You didn't earn the right to sit at these desks.

These heroes did it for you. They placed the desks here for you.
Now, it's up to you to sit in them.

It is your responsibility to learn, to be
good students, to be good citizens.

They paid the price so that you
could have the freedom to get an education. Don't ever forget it.'

By the way, this is a true story.... If you can read this, thank a
teacher. If you read it in English, thank a soldier.

Yes, it really is a true story..

Biggest Mistake

I heard on the radio the other day that morons are claiming that the Iraqi War was the biggest blunder of President Bush's presidency.  Wow, are these guys the most  ungrateful, unfocused, un-American people or what? It was a mistake, they say, to invade Iraq.  Hell, let's wrap Afghanistan in that too then. It was a mistake to remove a dictator that kills off his own people to make a point. It was a mistake to stop the possible onslaught of T-72 tanks pushing into Saudi Arabia back in the Gulf War. Ok, all you cry baby bleeding hearts out there who are going to get on your soap box now and tell me we came "here", for oil and the Honorable President Bush is doing this for money and bla, blabla, bla. Save your breath. If that is your foundation for your argument, you have so missed the mark.  You need to stop believing everything you READ in your bed wetting newspaper and talk to those who have done something in coordination to change things. Yes, it must have also been a mistake to free the innocent Iraqi citizens who would not conform to the insurgent way of life. C'mon you know, they are the ones chained in underground torture chambers, electrocuted, whipped because they tried to resist. Families slaughtered in front of them.  What? Didn't you read that in your paper? That's a mistake. It must have been a mistake to have US boots on the ground and in cities like Ramadi and Fallujah to push out thug killers and eventually have shops reopen and kids to go back to school. Yes, of course, it was a mistake to stop those silly killers beheading innocent people, taking over tribes and continuing basic barbaric routines at will. I will tell you what is a mistake, you believing that bullshit! Until you grab a 3 year old kid up out of the dirt as shit is hitting the fan, you have no idea what a mistake is. Until you are hugged by an Iraqi grown man because your presence alone means he will see the sun rise again is a mistake. Not being able to know how your basic Iraqi family tries to survive, lives, earns a day wages is a mistake. I know you finger pointers are all of sudden CNN war analysts. Do you even know any of the cultural systems of Iraq? No? That's a mistake. Know that before you decide to tell us how the president made "The Biggest Blunder". To see the entire Iraqi country rotate, change and evolve into a productive state, building its economy and living without the fear of any of the prior is no mistake or blunder. Not hearing about how well Iraq is doing now with your warriors' support and the ones who have been here before is a huge freaking mistake.  If you feel that Iraq and all of the good work overhear has resulted into a  "Big Blunder", I'll meet you in Kuwait, bring you north and introduce you to a few families that may disagree. Your call, but I would think twice about calling our success in Iraq a "Big Blunder" especially in front of any servicemember who has spent time here. That will be a big mistake.

ENJOY IT WHILE IT LASTS.

You are going to miss this I tell the young Marines especially the ones bitching about the deployment. There is something primitive about being deployed during war . Your entire focus is killing the bad guy or the other extreme helping them back to life. You eat, sleep think about your girl back home, workout train, prepare, eat, sleep think about your girl, and repeat cycle. You don’t get into a routine like that back into the states. Not like here. Even Marines who stay on the FOB still prepare to eventually do one of the above, kill or help or support those who do. When you get back to the states this all changes.

Another Convoy

Its late in the afternoon and we are heading out on a convoy to an outpost. Its hotter and humid that usual and you feel the sweat building in the seat like you have been riding in a car for 19 hours but you only have been in there 10 minutes.  We hold at a security halt as other hummers are linking up with us and we talk about the day and how its been going. How hot it is bitch and moan a bit then the young driver tell me a joke or two. It breaks up the monotony.  As we move out I continue to scan the road as I did last deployment at all of the trash on the sides and piles of dirt thinking hmmm that could be an IED, so could that, and that but you continue on.

As we drive past a Iraqi Army check point, we throw a couple bottles of water out to them as they are uncomfortable as us but manning their post and doing great. Professional and squared away. They were surprised to see us give them some water and thanks us in Iraqi. These guys really appreciate things like that. When yousee them walk down to the

Euphrates

river and fill up an empty water bottle and drink it, it will make you barf. The river is nasty. We fished bodies out of last deployment, dead donkeys, medical waste you name it. The convoy continues as we see what could become a bad situation on the road ahead but because of our presence and another oncoming coalition force convoy, the situation dissipates. (That’s all I can say about that—in the Forest Gump voice)

Gang-

A regular visitor here and a good friend since I was sent to Afghanistan back in the day has passed away. Big Bro Jim as he posts was not only a patriotic man but a warrior for justice. He will be missed.  Please keep him and his family and friends in your thoughts and prayers.

March 10, 2008: U.S. troops in Iraq can see the next round of Iraqi terrorism taking form. Next time, it will mainly be Shia Islamic radicals, trying to terrorize their way into power. Muqtada al Sadr, the head of the radical Mahdi Army, may be a little slow, but he’s not stupid. He finally figured out that his primary asset is time; sooner or later the US will be gone, having rid the country of al Qaeda and the most militant Sunni groups.  Then all he has to deal with will be the moderate Shia.

This is a rather fanciful plan, since American troops will be in the region ( Kuwait ) for a long, long time. That’s because Kuwait still fears Iraq and Iran (and even Saudi Arabia , if only a little bit). But Sadr, and other Shia radicals, control over a third of the seats in parliament. If they can hold onto that, they can maintain pressure for a quick American exit from Iraq . There’s also the hope that, in the United States , the next president will be a Democrat, and inclined to keep campaign promises about getting out of Iraq right away. That’s not a sure thing either. What is a sure thing is that if the Shia radical groups take on American forces again, they will get slaughtered just like the last few times.

Catch up

Gang-

Conducted a few convoys in the area and I thought I would pass on the atmospherics in the area. Compared to my last deployment here, things are a lot better. We began in the local area and did not have to utilize any escalation of force due to vehicle threats. Roads have been repaired from past IEDs and general contracting and building is improving across the bar. However, we have had incidents that resemble my last tour here that prove that the insurgents are still around, although not as evident or as frequent. Not much goes on at night as we were out and about (we are everywhere) and didn’t see many people out. Good thing. The air is still filled with the ever present burning trash, tires etc and the temps are on the rise along with the multiple day sand storms. The local people are very cooperative with us which foils insurgent’s plans to intimidate them to get to us. This is mainly due to the Iraqi Army and police force kicking butt. Several schools and shops have been rebuilt and improved. The main takeaway is that finally, the Iraqi people have said “enough is enough” towards the insurgents and have solidly taken a stance against them and their tactics and threats. This is gigantic for us because along with the thousands of training hours we have implemented, now the Iraqi Army and Police along with several additional security forces can protect what is theirs. They have no other followers. It really has come down to the bad guys waiting out the American people. The insurgent’s foundation was that the American people would demand us out of Iraq . That never materialized, we did our job and now the proof is materializing. Those who doubted us should be ashamed. Go jump off a bridge and end the DNA chain would ya? I love it here. I volunteered to come here again. Why would you join the Marine Corps and sit on the sidelines? I am sure there are plenty of “other” organizations you could have joined and not come to Iraq . The Marines morale is sky high. They see the results of the hard work done by units before us, which motivates them to keep kicking ass and taking names. You want to shoot a couple rounds at the Iraqi Army huh Mr insurgent? Say Hello to my little friend called the Marine Corps. However, we haven’t had to be called on as time progresses. Yes, we show up armed to the teeth ready to get some, but the Iraqi forces are Taking care of business (TCB)Thankyouverymuch.